TANSTAAFL

TANSTAAFL: an acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch," from Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

Those of you who have followed this blog for a bit know that I'm planning a Roadmap for my shop's transition from Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10 to Fusion Applications. Due to internal budget considerations, that Roadmap includes a year of running on 11i under an Extended Support agreement with Oracle: according to Oracle's Lifetime Support policy, 11.5.10 Premier Support expires in Nov. 2009, but we don't plan to move off 11.5.10 until Nov. 2010.

Purchasing Extended Support can be pricey. The incremental cost increase for Extended Support in the first year is 10 percent. The cost increases to 20 percent for year two and 30 percent for year three. There are no provisions for Extended Support beyond three years. In my shop, and probably many others as well, that's not "chump change" - the annual cost of Extended Support for the entire E-Business Suite is a big number. Yup, for those of you who have missed this point before, Extended Support customers will pay more for their support. In some cases, a lot more.

I plan to reduce that number by not purchasing Extended Support for the entire E-Business Suite, but only for those application modules that are needed to keep the critical business processes of my enterprise running. I'll let the non-critical apps modules slip to Sustaining Support. For example, we run Oracle Payroll - it's pretty critical that our folks get paid when we say they'll be paid, so we'll buy Extended Support for the Payroll app. Receivables are not so important to us, because we're federally-funded, so we'll probably let Receivables slide directly to Sustaining Support. If you apply this approach in your shop, you'll need to figure out which apps are critical for your enterprise and which ones are not.

Now there is a risk in the approach I'm suggesting here. Consider the situation in the context of Oracle Payroll. There are legal changes to payroll regulations in the U.S. throughout the calendar year. Oracle supports those changes with payroll patches. However, some of those patches have prerequisite patches, often including an ATG (Applications Technology Group) patch. Those ATG patches can impact the behavior of apps modules other than Payroll. We run the risk that we may find ourselves in a bit of a bind if an ATG patch impacts an apps module we've let slide to Sustaining Support. so, using this approach, the integration of apps modules can actually present a risk. I have yet to figure out a way to mitigate this risk other than buying Extended Support for the entire E-Business Suite...which takes us back to that big cost number. I'm open to suggestions if anybody has any ideas.

Lifetime Support is a great thing in terms of providing choices for Oracle customers. Just keep in mind that it ain't no free lunch.

Fusion Applications - The BEA Bounce?

Over the past several days, I've been flooded with inquiries from Oracle customers, IT professionals and various journalists over Oracle's acquisition of BEA. One particular question that repeatedly appears: "Will Oracle's acquisition of BEA impact this year's planned rollout of Fusion Applications?" I've taken to calling this scenario "The BEA Bounce". When I get a deluge of questions like this, that's a pretty good indicator of a need to blog about it...just keep in mind that all this is my own opinion and speculation, and I could be wrong. So, here we go!

First, I think it's a good sign that the question is even being asked. It's an indicator that customers are beginning to understand Oracle's strategy: Fusion Middleware drives both the middleware and the applications strategy. Even end users, who seem make applications choices based on functionality rather than technology, are coming to an understanding that middle-tier technology drives application functionality to a great degree - the applications technology stack is important to achieving business goals. More end users are coming to this realization every day, which is one reason why we're seeing an increase in their interest about the tech stack.

Second, I don't think that the BEA acquisition will impact this year's rollout of Fusion Applications. A great deal of Fusion Apps are already in the oven and baking - it's a little late in the process to be adding new ingredients. Since last fall's OpenWorld, I've had the belief that Oracle is very committed to rolling out Fusion Apps in 2008 as planned. Adding BEA technology to the Fusion Applications technology stack at this late date would represent a huge project risk - If I were the project manager, I sure wouldn't want to do so this late in the game. However, keep in mind that Fusion Apps will be an evolutionary journey - new incremental iterations will be coming out for years into the future. I do believe we'll see a significant infusion of BEA technology into Fusion Middleware in the future, which will heavily influence later increments of Fusion Applications.

Bottom line: Oracle's acquistion of BEA will not impact the 2008 delivery of Fusion Apps, but it will likely impact later releases...and the introduction of BEA technology will likely drive new apps functionality, which is a good thing.

That's my two cents on the subject. I'd be interested in hearing what you think...

Discoverer Queries Running Slowly?

Aviad Elbaz, on his Oracle Applications DBA blog, posted a pretty nifty article this morning on his recent experience with Discoverer Query Prediction and its impact on query performance. If you think your Discoverer queries are running a bit slow, you may want to check out Aviad's article.

OTN Best Practice Center - Siebel and Fusion Middleware

Oracle has recently brought up an Oracle Technology Network Best Practice Center for Siebel Applications and Fusion Middleware, including such highlights as:

• Five 20 page tutorials

• Blog contributions from experts

• A live webcast on Jan. 22: Leveraging BPEL to Extend Siebel Business Processes (you can register here)
  

As I understand it, this is is pilot project - similar Best Practice Centers for PeopleSoft and the E-Business Suite are soon to follow. Like most pilot projects, feedback is crucial...Oracle is very interested in what users think of this Best Practice Center. Is this the type of content users are looking for? What is missing that you'd like to see? What can Oracle do to make the Center better? You can email your feedback directly to markus.zirn@oracle.com (great guy to work with...don't be afraid to tell him what you think).

So check out the new OTN Best Practice Center - Siebel and Fusion Middleware, and let Markus know what you think.

What Goes Around Comes Around

My mother used to tell me that what goes around comes around. Yesterday was another example of how wise my mother was...

Yesterday was a pretty rough day in my house. I'll refrain for laying out all the details other than to say it seemed like I was drinking from a fire hose that was spewing bad news. Sometimes life is like that, but yesterday was a doozy!

Anyway, late in the afternoon, I came home to find a UPS package on my door filled with copies of the February 2008 edition of Oracle's "Profit" magazine. Lo and behold, there on page 19 is my chubby, ugly mug and an interview about the Oracle Applications ACE program. Great timing - what a nice silver lining around one whopper of a cloud. And I also must say how much I enjoyed working on this article with the folks putting out "Profit". It was a great experience and one I hope to repeat in the future.

Okay, setting aside the TMI stuff and getting to the bottom line: if you know of someone who has made significant contributions to the Oracle user community, please think about nominating that person as an Oracle ACE. The benefits (including recognition) that come from being a part of the ACE community are significant. In fact, I was not really aware of the full extent of the benefits until I was admitted into the group myself. Personally, it's a honor for me to be part of that select group as an Applications ACE. So take a little time to do something nice for someone you respect...your single act of recognition will brighten up their day again and again.

Rethinking R12 On The Road To Fusion

I spent some time over the holidays reviewing and reflecting on my notes and impressions from OpenWorld. One result of all this pondering is that I'm rethinking my plan of skipping EBS R12 and moving directly from 11i to Fusion Apps. My rethinking is due to the following considerations:

1) During the Fusion Council Panel at OOW, I thought I heard Steve Miranda specifically state that the initial integrated suite of Fusion Apps will not be a full-functionality replacement for EBS (or any other apps suite under the Applications Unlimited umbrella). My shop has a pretty compelling need move from 11i to something (preferably something relatively stable) by November 2010. As the IOUC's Debra Lilley astutely pointed out upon seeing my roadmap for JPL, there's no guarantee that Fusion Apps will be able to completely fill that need by that time.

2) I also got the impression (not necessarily entirely from Steve, so don't blame him for this one) that Fusion Apps would be rolled out incrementally and implemented incrementally (unless you're willing to wait until sometime around the end of the decade before taking on the move to Fusion Apps). An incremental approach would require integration with the applications that a customer already has in place. As an EBS customer, Occam's Razor ("All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best") tells me that I'm better off integrating with R12 (which runs on the same Fusion Middleware that Fusion Apps will use) than with 11i (which does not run on a Fusion Middleware techstack).

3) That fact that Oracle Corp. itself is in the process of going live on R12 gives the new EBS suite much more traction and reliability from my perspective. Once Oracle begins to "eat their own dog food", I suspect many customers will begin the uptake of R12, which will in turn accelerate the maturity of that apps suite.

I'm not saying that all EBS users should upgrade to R12 before migrating to Fusion Apps. In fact, I'm not even saying that all EBS users should migrate to either R12 or Fusion Apps at all...at least, not in the near future. Each customer will need to make those decisions based on the needs and constraints of their specific enterprise. What I am saying is that, now that I have a better feel for the scope of the initial release of an integrated Fusion Apps Suite, it probably makes sense for my shop to move to R12 and use it as the jump-off point for a subsequent migration to Fusion Apps...after giving Fusion Apps some time to mature.

So, I'm working up a new version of JPL's Roadmap to Fusion Apps based on the recent things I've learned and these thoughts I've had about the things I've learned. This is what an iterative (or incremental or iterative) approach is all about: you plan based on what you know, you learn more, then you tweak the plan for accomodate what you've learned, then you lear more, then you... well, you get the idea. Once I have a new version of the Roadmap worked up, I'll post it here and look for comments from ya'all.

Orablog Tag - Round 2

If you're following the latest round of Orablog Tag, you know I tagged John Stouffer. Most of you know John from some of his outstanding presentations at OpenWorld and Collaborate over the past few years ("Demystifying Fusion", "A Technical Roadmap To Fusion Middleware, Release 12 and Fusion Applications"). John has also served (with me) as Co-Chair of OAUG's Fusion Council for the past year. In light of the fact that John does not have a blog going at this particular moment, I've offered to let John post here. Take it away, John...

I've been blog tagged by Floyd because Jake over at Oracle Apps Lab has started a new blog tag game of "Orablog Tag" and tagged Floyd in his initial round and I was tagged next by Floyd. They both, apparently, have way too much time on their hands but I’ll give it a shot:

1. You wouldn’t know it to look at me but my body is made of steel and titanium. After five back surgeries and three neck surgeries I’m considered a threat every time I board a plane. I do like the consistent extra attention even if the root cause was an improper ladder placement and poor roof landing skills.

2. My family comes from German, Italian and Irish stock. Born in Texas but grew up in Colorado. It’s the best of both worlds. Can read and write English somewhat.

3. My wife and I have one daughter (31) and three great grandkids (9, 7 and 4) I'm very proud of each one of them and consider the fact that they’ve turned out to be perfect angels to be just dumb luck on my part. And especially the great son-in-law that my daughter married who can afford her lifestyle.

4. I've left the US a few times and have NO plans to ever leave again. Now that I can see everything on Google maps, it’s as good a being there. My wife still travels but has friends for that (some activity called “shopping” seems to drive them all crazy).

5. I got my degree in the mail and then spent one year going to law school. Law has nothing to do with right or wrong. It’s about who can bill the most money. So I became a billable Oracle consultant.

6. Unlike Floyd and Jake, I have no background in fighting. To overcompensate for this I joined the Army Rangers after I played college ball for a year. This highly intelligent move on my part show me just how far you can go on eating only green things. I was much younger then…

7. I have no real hobbies (other than shooting at toilets) and just spend most of my time looking thru MetaLink and now, blogs. Tried stamp collecting but it was too sticky and I have no patience for model building so it’s just Oracle, I guess.

8. I took advantage of my second wife to get her to marry me and she’s still wondering how it went so fast those 21 years ago. I think the travel and coming home to the house alarm going off and a pistol pointed in my general direction still keeps the old heart beating. She’s off on a cruise right now with her transplant donor and their mom so maybe it’s my turn…

I'll leave the rest of the tagging up to the group.

(The last line from John declining to tag 8 more people is not unexpected...typical DBA, just can't stand to follow directions - Floyd).

Orablog Tag

I've been blog tagged by Jake over at Oracle Apps Lab has started a new blog tag game of "Orablog Tag" and has tagged me in his initial round. Although I'm thinking Jake may too much time on his hands ;), I'm always up for a new game, so here we go:

1. I'm a darn fine BBQ and grilling chef. Might even try to make the "Memphis In May" BBQ cooking contest this year.

2. My family roots are German and Dutch. In fact, I grew up being pretty fluent in German as well as English. I don't speak German so well anymore, as I'm out of practice, but I still read it very well.

3. My wife and I have seven children between us, ranging in age from 26 to 20 (there's a set of twins in there). I'm very proud of each one of them and consider raising them to be the accomplishment of my life. Also diggin' the first grandchild, who showed up last November.

4. I've seen most of the continental United States at one time or another. My father worked for the U.S. Geological Survey as a surveying engineer in the Topographic Map division. I'd seen and lived in 40 of the 48 continental states by the time I was in 7th grade. To date, I've been in 45 of the lower 48.

5. I spent a brief amount of time as a lawyer. Yup, law degree and the whole bit. Found the law to be very unfulfilling - Shakespeare was right. Still use the legal training and knowledge every day, but have zero interest in ever practicing law.

6. Like Jake, who tagged me for this, I have a background in fighting. There's a couple of Gold Glove trophies and some other stuff in some box in a garage somewhere. However, I lost the mindset for the whole fighting thing many years ago.

7. I've been a shutterbug for years and I'm starting to get serious about my digital photography. Getting decent with black & white, but color is still driving me batty. My goal is to start posting stock photos during 2008. Like my father before me, I'm a Canon man, in case anybody's asking...

8. I still haven't figured out what made my lovely and talented wife marry so far beneath her station in life. What I did to deserve this kind of luck is a mystery for the ages.

I'll tag Rich Manalang, Steven Chan, Tim Dexter, Linda Fishman Hoyle, Richard Byrom, Chris Warticki, Steve Romeo, and John Stouffer (who can use ORCLville to post his 8). You'll all be getting email from me to confirm. So it's tag, and ya'all are now it.

2008

It seems to be the time of year when ever blogger who can still fog up a mirror puts out a list of predictions for the upcoming 12 months. The annual prognostication thing is not my cup of tea. In fact, I think the one sure way to get the universe around you laughing is to talk about what you think will happen next. Nevertheless, several of you have asked what I'm predicting or wishing for 2008. In response, what follows is my jumbled-up list of predictions and wishes. Just don't blame me if it doesn't turn out this way...

1. I'll get more use from Twitter before it goes away.

2. Oracle gets specific about the functionality in the first release of Fusion Applications sometime before they show up on my office desk in a shrink-wrapped box (or become available via download or whatever...you get the idea).

3. The basic concepts of social networking and collaborating build a strong value proposition that will be recognized by large enterprises.

4. Oracle Mix gets wide-spread acceptance and use in the Oracle user community.

5. The U.S. dollar recovers on the world currency market before capital investment flees and causes a dot-com economic hiccup.

6. I'll start moving from Microsoft Office to web-based apps (I'm getting sick of paying the MS upgrade fees for my home systems and I want better access to my work for both my collaborators and me).

7. People separate the service business model (you know, "whatever" as a service) from the fear of losing either control or jobs.

8. I'll finally break down and junk the clamshell phone for some type of smartphone.

9. There will be a significant increase in the number Oracle Apps Unlimited upgrades this year.

10. Squeezing the size and cost of end-user IT departments will be an even bigger issue as the U.S. and world economies begin to slow down.

UPDATE: The Crux Of It All

Earlier this week, I posted my article on the iterative approach Oracle is taking with Fusion Applications. Shortly after my post, Linda Fishman Hoyle announced a closely-related event on Yak About Apps. Linda announced that Cliff Godwin's presentation from Oracle OpenWorld 2007, "Upgrading to Fusion Applications: Planning Ahead", has been taped and released in an iSeminar format. You can view the iSeminar, which runs about 35 minutes, here. As you're watching, keep track of how many times you hear terms like iterative, incremental, or evolutionary...

The Crux Of It All

As we kick off 2008, I thought it would be a good idea to get to the crux of the Fusion Applications applications development approach. If the management team in your enterprise only learn one thing about Fusion Applications this year, it should be the idea that Fusion Applications will be developed, released, and implemented on an iterative basis.

The software industry has learned quite a bit over the last 25 years in attempting to understand why software projects succeed or fail. The most important concept to surface in all this learning is the idea of iterations in building software and software systems. Over the years, I have repeatedly seen that software project teams using an iterative approach succeed more often (success being defined as on schedule, within budget, and meeting the challenges originally resulting in the project's inception), while teams utilizing other approaches are more prone to failure.

So, as long as I'm on my soapbox, let me share why the iterative approach works so well in comparison to other approaches. Quoting directly from pages 43 and 44 of Joe Marasco's book, "The Software Development Edge":

The iterative development approach breaks away from the overly rigid waterfall approach that had come to dominate large projects in the eighties. It is an approach that is grounded in risk mitigation, incremental construction, and progress measured by actual working code as opposed to documents. If you need more background on the details of iterative development, see Royce or Kroll and Krutchen.

In my opinion, Marasco's quote applies to software product releases and implementations as well as software development. And I don't think I'm alone in holding this opinion. Somebody (or more likely, several somebodies) at Oracle must agree with me, because several "data points" indicate that the release plan for Fusion Applications is essentially a series of iterative releases:

• We've heard that Fusion will be an evolutionary journey rather than a specific destination.

• Oracle's SOA Maturity Model is based on a series of 5 incremental steps on the path to a complete SOA environment.

• We now know that the first release of an integrated Fusion Applications Suite will not be a full functionality replacement for any of the Applications Unlimited product lines. The functionality will be expanded in later releases.
  

So the crux of it all is this: both the upcoming stand-alone releases of Fusion sales tools applications and the first release of an integrated Fusion Applications Suite later this year will simply be the initial iterative releases of Fusion Applications. The product releases and the subsequent customer implementations will be like eating a whale sandwich - we'll be doing it one bite at a time and we're just getting started.

In terms of understanding the future of your enterprise as it relates to Fusion Applications, this is the most important thing...